Kumar Luintel

Dewangunj (Sunsari), July 5:

Poor families in border areas are compelled to take loan at an interest of 10 per cent due to lack of banking knowledge at southern VDCs of Sunsari district. They take loan, following the traditional Khepiya Pratha from local merchants. According to the local language, Khepiya Pratha means the process of taking interest from the poor by the merchants, counting individual days. Lives of poor people is worsening day by day due to this tradition but it has also become a compulsion for them to take loan at a higher per cent. Chhedi Yadav, a local informed, “People take recourse to this process to meet their desires. Under this process, we have to pay the interest day by day.” This tradition is still in existence in the southern VDCs, Dewangunj, Kaptangunj, Madhyaharsahi and Sahebgunj of Sunsari district. Talking to The Himalaya Times, Nilam Shahi in Sahebgunj said, “I had taken a loan of only Rs 600, but I paid about Rs 1002 to the merchant who had provided me the loan.” She failed to pay the loan on time, as a penalty she had paid more amounts. According to the agreement between her and the merchant, she had to pay Rs 10 per day for Rs 100 as an interest, she informed. A Yadav caste local had given his cot to the merchant when he failed to pay the said amount. He said, “Do not publish my name in the newspaper. He will stop providing me loans.” As the process is totally illegal, it takes place secretly. No one wants to talk frankly about it. Some conscious locals have stopped taking such loans, but some are still forced to take such loans to meet emergencies and necessities. According to statistics compiled by a local NGO, Nepal Gramin Bikash Samaj, out of the 1,033 families in Dewangunj VDC, only 555 families have been helped by banks and cooperatives.